All Who Are Thirsty...

There is nothing I like more than a hot cup of coffee. I mean a good cup of coffee. One that has the right amount of freshly ground coffee beans with a touch of cream and just a pinch of sugar. That is one of my pleasures. If I was traveling in the wilderness, I would want my coffee. Yet, it doesn’t quench my thirst. When I am parched, I don’t reach for my cup of java in hopes of being refreshed. I reach for water…

Here we are in the season of Lent. We are, indeed, somewhat in our own wilderness. In our community, we are exploring the movement from old to new, from death to life, from thirsty to quenched. We have begun the process of learning who we are, shedding some of that, and moving to the next place of recognizing new life around us and choosing to claim that new life. As we move through this Lenten journey, I invite us to explore what we choose. When we are in need of something that delves deeper, and quenches thirst, do we still choose that which will satisfy us in the moment only to leave us wanting more later?

Last week we explored that idea that as pilgrims on a journey, we are always looking to encounter something more. Something deeper. The question is, when we find it will we choose it?

I am excited to see what God will do this week at Crossroads.

See you Sunday at 5 PM.

Joy and Peace,

Jimmy

Bridges and Bombs

I recently came across a song written by Aaron Niequist, who is a worship leader at Willow Creek Church in Chicago. The song has a catchy tune and simple lyrics. One of our singers at Crossroads chuckled a little because it reminded him of a folk song from the 60s. In a way, I guess that's right. But I think it bears singing, reflecting and listening to given what we are experiencing now. The chorus goes:

But love, love can change the world
Oh do we still believe that love
Love can change the world
Oh do we still believe that love, love
God is love, our God is love and love
can change the world.

The things that catches my attention is the line "Oh do we still believe?" That is a question for us in our Lenten journey. In a season where we are listening for God and looking for new images, we are still experiencing disaster and war. Just this week, bombs began to fly over Lybia. I am torn because it would appear the NATO forces were doing it for humanitarian reasons (to protect citizens from Ghaddafi's forces). However, where does it stop? Do the bombs keep dropping so that we rid the world of another dictator? Maybe that's the answer...maybe not. I know that good people of faith are on both sides of this issue. But, it raises a lot of questions...

Which brings me back to the song. The opening verse goes:

Bridges are more beautiful than bombs are. Bridges are more beautiful than bombs.
Listening is louder than a lecture. Listening is louder than a shout.

I like the images of bridges. They connect one thing to another. Jesus was a bridge builder between us and God. We are bridge builders between each other, and between the church and humanity. I want to invite us all this week to look for ways that we can be a bridge in someone's life. Where can we connect someone with the love of God. Through our service? Through mercy? Through our compassion? Through listening? Through giving? What will it be for us this week?

Bridges are, indeed, more beautiful than bombs are. Do we still believe that love can change the world?

Let's find out.

Joy and Peace,

Jimmy

Check out Aaron Niequist teaching this song to the folks at Willow Creek. (Be careful, you'll be singing along pretty quickly).

Encountering Something More...

Surely there is more to life than this! Earthquakes, tsunamis, the volatile stock market, job losses, radioactive scares, congressional hearings on Islam, hate speech approved, potential airstrikes in Lybia, murders, overpaid athletes being coddles, underpaid workers losing rights to bargain as a group, and kids ingesting cocaine at a local elementary school. Surely something better is hoped for. Surely something better was intended! I know that reading this list is a negative way to start the day, especially considering we will have a beautiful day here in DC. Yet, this list was pulled from the news headlines this morning. It is the very thing we would encounter when we read the newspapers or go online for news. As a people of faith, how do we respond to this. Do we respond to this?

We continue our Lenten journey this week by exploring our desire to encounter something more. To encounter something more in our personal lives, in our corporate lives as a faith community, and as a part of creation. A Jewish leader named Nicodemus went looking for something more one night. He left the safe confines of his home to travel the dark streets in search of the man with whom the Jewish leaders were not happy with. Nicodemus went looking for Jesus. His desire to encounter something more left him pondering a statement about being born again.

Our Lenten journey is about a path through the wilderness to prepare us for something else. To prepare us to be baptized or more fully live out the covenant made in our baptism. This journey often leaves us pondering statements and situations. Seeking justice and mercy even as injustice and acts of hate stare us in the face. As we continue this journey (and following up on last week) we continue to learn who we are. In that learning process, we begin to understand what drives us and what motivates us. We listen and actually hear God’s voice speaking to us to come and follow. To encounter more. Even when our own personal lives do not mirror the news headlines, we recognize that life is even more than about us. For the world to encounter something more…something different, then we must encounter something more. In order to do that, we’ve got to go looking…

Surely there is more to life than this! Let’s find out together.

I am excited about what God is doing, and I look forward to what will

happen this Sunday at 5 PM.

I hope to see you there.

Joy and Peace,

Leaving Life as We Know It...

Beloved community,

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. It’s a day that marks the beginning of the season of Lent for the Christian church. Our journey in Lent is one that is marked by the self-examination of our hearts. We take stock of what is important to us, and what our priorities are in our lives. We repent of our primarily self-centered ways, and seek to be deeper, more faithful disciples of Jesus. We prepare ourselves in hopes of being transformed.

Now, what does all of that mean? I just used a bunch of churchy words and phrases in that last paragraph. Are they important? Should we take them seriously? Well, that is a good question. We struggle with the notion of discipleship. We say we want to “transform lives,” but what does that mean? What does it look like to be “deeper, more faithful disciples of Jesus? Well, I’m not sure I know exactly, but I want to invite all of us to explore that together. One of the ways in which we figure it out is in community.

Throughout Lent, we are going to explore together the phrase, “Leaving life as we know it...” The Gospel stories throughout Lent reflect the temptation that we face, the most basic human tendency to sin, the brokenness of our world, the joy found in new life, and a call to move from one place to another (spiritually, physically, and sometimes emotionally). How does that translate to our lives? What should we do with that? What if we don’t want to move from the life as we know it?

Every times the season of Lent comes around, we find ourselves, I believe, at a crossroads. Where will I put my resources? How will I spend my time? What will I give up? What will I take on? Does it have any meaning in my life? It is my hope that we, as a community, can explore these questions and more together as we seek to be a community that “extends radical hospitality, transforms lives, and pursues justice.

I am incredibly excited to see what God is up to this week and beyond at Crossroads. I hope you are too!

See you at 5 PM this Sunday!

Jimmy

When God is Silent...

Living in a big city brings with it all sorts of noise. Fire engines and ambulances. Honking horns and helicopters. People milling about the Mall and people protesting in front of the White House. There seems to be some kind of noise all the time. Depending on where you live, it can be 24/7. We are even aware of it during our worship on Sunday evenings. In our times of silent prayer, you can dogs barking and children playing. We can hear the sirens and the honking horns that seem to break into the silence in our worship.

As we wrap up the series on prayer, we are reminded that of the contradictory nature of silence when it comes to God. In our prayers, often silence is the best way to listen for God’s still small voice. Yet, after we have prayed, often the silence can be deafening. As we wait to hear from God, the silence becomes paralyzing, lonely, and sometimes, painful. We move from listening for the still small voices to reacting to anything and everything we hear. We long to hear God, but sometimes what we get is…silence. In her book "When God is Silent," Barbara Brown Taylor writes, "God's silence is the more threatening (over God's speech), perhaps because it is the more frequently experienced of the two." Quite often people will come to a pastor not because of what God said to them last night, but most often because God is saying...nothing.

So, as we explore prayer, how do we approach this silence? What does it mean? What do we do? The Dark Night of the Soul can be unbearable, but what might God be saying when God seems to say nothing at all?

What will we do in the silence?

See you Sunday at 5 PM!

Jimmy